Corner pad



*NO v. 13, 1962 Y R. T. MocLlvE 3,063,613

CORNER PAD Filed Jan. '11, 1960 2 sheets-sheet 1 f/ TMR BY Mfr ATTORNEYSNov. 13, 1962 R. T. MGcLlvE CORNER PAD 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. ll,1960 w MIM ATTORNEYS United States Fatent r'Hee 3,063,613 CORNER PADRalph T. McClive, Kenmore, N.Y., assigner to Eastern Fabricating Co.,Inc., lualio, N Y. Filed Jan. 11, 1960, ser. No. 1,498 2 Claims. (Cl.229-14) This invention relates to improvements in padding of articles toprotect them during shipping or handling, and particularly to cornerpads for protecting the corners of articles.

It is the present practice to make up folded corner pads of corrugatedcardboard which are relatively firm but have limiting cushioning valuesbecause they are not able to stand continued shocks without somebreakdown, and also constant weight upon such padding materials causes apermanent set so that these padding materials fail to afford the desiredprotection to the article to which they are applied. There are alsopadding materials made of soft, readily flexible, felted, brousmaterials which are easily torn or otherwise damaged and which do notlend themselves readily to the packaging of some articles.

It is consequently an object of this invention to provide a combinationpad made of layers of a board-like, foldable, semi-rigid material, suchfor example as corrugated cardboard, and a loose, readily flexible,iibrous material resembling felt which may, for example, be made of woodfibers, the felt-like material arranged in direct contact with thearticle to be protected and the board-like material arranged `on theexterior thereof `so that blows or shocks received on the compositecushioning material are spread by the board-like material over asubstantial area of the felt-like material to `decrease the effect ofimpacts or blows on the article to be protected.

Another object is to provide a combination pad of this type having threeWalls to lit over a corner and having the walls formed of alternatelayers :of the board-like material and felt-like material, with thelatter material arranged on the inside of the walls for contact with thearticle to be protected and having other layers of felt-like materialinterposed between layers of board-like material.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a corner pad of thistype which is made of a single sheet of each material which can beplaced one upon another and readily folded or bent into the corner padshape.

-In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. l is a perspective view of an article to be protected having cornerpieces embodying my invention applied to the upper corners thereof andhaving a carton or container in position to be placed over the article.

FIG. 2 is a perspective View thereof showing the article after thecontainer has been placed thereon and inverted with additional cornerpieces placed over the other corners of the article exposed by invertingthe same.

FIG. 3 is a face view of a board-like material.

FIG. 4 is a face View of the felt-like material in sheet form.

FIG. 5 is a face View showing the felt-like material positioned on aportion of the board-like material and having a portion of theboard-like material folded over a part of the felt-like material.

FIG. 6 is a face view showing the corner pad after the next fold.

FIG. 7 is `a perspective view of the materials after another fold.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the finished corner pad.

Referring first to FIGS. 3-8, the board-like material is out into theform shown in FIG. 3 including two projections 8 and 9 separated by aslot 10, the projections 8 and 9 extending outwardly from a body portion11 having a strip 12 extending outwardly from a side there- 3,063,613Patented Nov. 13, 1962 of. This board-like material may be made of anysuitable semi-rigid material which is capable of being folded -orcreased, such for example as cardboard or corrugated paper board.

FIG. 4 shows a readily flexible sheet of `felt-like material comprisingabody portion 1S which is longer than the body portion 11 of theboard-like material and two projections 16 and 17 extending outwardlytherefrom and separated by a slot i18. This sheet of material may bemaderof any soft, readily flexible padding material which may be -madeof felted fibers of wood, cotton, cellulose fibers, Wadding or otherfibrous materials. This mate.- rial can be readily torn or damaged whenused by itself and consequently in accordance with my invention, Iprovide a combination of this soft, fibrous material with the boardmaterial in such a manner that the felt-like material will be in directcontact with the article to be protected and with the boardelikematerial forming a backing for the librous material.

In order to form the two layers -shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 into a cornerpad, the felt-like layer is first placed over the board-like sheet insuch a manner that the two projections 16 and 17 lie over thecorresponding projections 8 and 9 of the board-like material, as clearlyshown in FIG. 5, and the arm or extension 12 which extends to one sideof the felt-like material, is then folded over across the part of thebody portion 15 of the felt-like material which is nearest to theextensions 16 and 17. A part of the body portion 15 will then extendbeyond the body portion 11 of the board-like material and this part 15is then folded across the face of the projection 12. The body portion 11of the board-like material is then bent or folded along an edge of thearm or projection 12 to extend approximately perpendicular to theextensions 16 and '17 so that the parts occupy the positions shown inFIG. 7. The bent-over parts of the body portions 11 and 1S are then bentor folded transversely of their lengths at 20 while the two projectingparts at opposite sides of the slots 10 and 18 are placed one above theother, thus producing the completed construction shown in FIG. 8, inwhich the bend 20 is shown in the body portions 11 and 15.

The result of this formation is that all of the inside Afaces of thethree Walls `of the corner piece are of soft, felt-like material whichwill then be in contact with the article to be protected and each wallalso has in addition to the inner layer of soft, flexible material, apacking layer of the board-like material, then another layer of thefelt-like material on the outer face of the board-like material, andanother board-like material on each of the outer walls of the cornerpiece.

As a result of this construction, the inner layers of soft, ilexiblematerial which bear directly against the corner portions of the articleto be protected are backed by panels of the cardboard or otherboard-like material on the exterior of which another layer of soft,readily flexible, fibrous material is arranged which in turn is backedby the board-like material. This structure had a number of advantages,in that any blows or jars that might be received on the corner pad willbe transmitted by the exterior board-like material over an enlargedportion of the intermediate felt-like material, and this material inturn will transmit such blow or jar to the inner, board-like material,which further distributes this shock to the inner layer of felt-likematerial over a still greater area. As a result, the chances of damagingthe article to be protected are greatly reduced and also the corner padsretain most of their resilience, and breakdown or settling of thefelt-like material after the article rests on the corner pads for anextended period of time is greatly reduced.

In the use of the corner pads herein described, the walls of these padsmay be secured together in any suitable manner to hold the parts of thecorner pads in the position shown in FIG. 8, and this may be:accomplished by .tape or any other fastening means (not shown) which ofcourse will be positioned so as to avoid any contact with the article tobe protected. The corner pads are then placed on the four corners of anarticle 2S, which may ibe an article of furniture, a metal or woodencabinet, electric or electronic devices and the like. A shipping case 27of any usual or suitable construction is inverted and placed over thearticle 25 with the four corner pads arranged thereon and is sliddownwardly over the article. The case or container with the articletherein is then in- Vvertedas shown in FIG. `1, whereupon additionalcorner pads according to my invention may be readily inserted into thespaces between the corners of the article 25 and the shipping case 27.The lids or covers of the shipping case or container may then be foldedover in the usual manner for completing the packaging of the article. Myimproved corner pads may of course be used in any other manner.

It will be noted that during the packing of an article in a shipping boxor -container 27, only the board-like, outer faces of the corner padsare exposed to abrasion resulting from the placing of the package overthe article as vshown lin FIG. l and the placing of the pads between thearticle and the box `so that the` felt-like material is protectedagainst damage. The board-like outer material has ample resistance toabrasion.

The pads shown conform to existing freight packing specifications andeliminate the need for covering the article with a non-abrasivecushioning material since the corner pads embodying this invention havethe nonabrasive material in contact with the surface of the article tobe packaged. The corner pads further reduce the weight of the packagingwhich would result from using only corrugated paper pads.

The corner pads are very easily folded and consequently it is preferredto ship them in flat form, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The persons doingthe packing then place one Iilat layer on another and can quickly foldthe two layers of material as shown in FlGS. 5 8 to produce the cornerpad shown in FIG. 8. It will be noted that the felt-like material willbe sured in correct relation to the corner pad due to the folds.

While I have shown my improved pad formed to extend about three surfacesof an article, it will be obvious that it may extend about two or morevsurfaces. lt will also be obvious that my improved pad may haveadditional alternate layers of board-like and felt-like materials. Itwill be understood that various changes in the details, materials andarrangements of parts which have been herein described and illustratedin order to explain the nature of the invention may be made by thoseskilled in the art, within the principle and scope of the invention asexpressed in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A corner pad for protecting a corner of an article during handlingand shipment, vsaid pad being made of two sheets of material, one ofsaid sheets being of a board-like material and the other sheet being ofa readily flexible, felt-like material, said sheets each having a bodyportion and two outwardly extending projections adjoining said bodyportion and spaced from each other along their .adjacent sides, saidsheets having their body portions provided with a bend extendingsubstantially in alinement with the space between said projections toform two sides of said pad, said projections being superimposed one onthe other to form a third wall of said pad, and an extension on saidboard-like sheet and an extension on said felt-like sheet which extendsbeyond the body portion of said board-like sheet, said extension of saidboard-like sheet lying across the body portions of both of said sheetsand said extension of :said feltlike sheet lying across said extensionof said board-like sheet.

2. A corner pad for protecting a corner of an article during handlingand shipment, said pad being made of two sheets of material, one of saidsheets being of a boardlike material and the other sheet being of areadily flexible, felt-like material, said sheets each having a bodyportion and two outwardly extending projections adjoining said bodyportion and spaced from each other along their adjacent sides, saidsheets having their body portions provided with a bend extendingsubstantially in alinement with the space between said projections toform two sides of said pad, said projections being superimposed one onthe other to form a third wall of said pad, and an extension on saidboard-like sheet extending laterally from the body portion thereof andan extension on said feltlike sheet extending outwardly from the endthereof, said extension of said board-like sheet having a bendpositioning it across the body portion of said felt-like sheet and saidextension of said felt-like sheet having a bend extending approximatelyat Ia right angle to the bend in said boardlike sheet positioning it tolie across said extension of said board-like sheet.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,613,152 Agar Ian. 4, 1927 1,781,797 Williams Nov. 18, 1930 1,800,713Bowersock Apr. 14, 1931 1,837,261 Gerard et :al Dec. 22, 1931 1,936,951`Peterson Nov. 28, 1933 2,670,122 Davidson et al Feb. 23, 1954 2,692,720Suess et al ,Oct. 26, 1954 2,896,833 Markham July 28, 1959 FOREIGNPATENTS 763,408 Great Britain Dec. i2, 1956

